The Relationship Between Law, Ethics, and Social Justice in a Changing World
Kata Kunci:
Climate Justice, Deliberative Democracy, Digital Constitutionalism, Ethics And Law, Global Justice, Legal Theory, Social Justice, Transnational LawAbstrak
The relationship between law, ethics, and social justice has traditionally been theorised as one of mutual reinforcement: law codifies ethical principles, and both serve social justice. Contemporary global transformations—climate disruption, digital surveillance, economic inequality, and cultural pluralisation—have destabilised this alignment, revealing deep tensions between legal validity, ethical legitimacy, and distributive fairness. While extensive scholarship addresses the dyadic relations between law and ethics or law and justice, an integrated analysis that captures the triadic interplay and its dynamic reconfiguration under conditions of rapid global change remains absent. This article addresses that gap by developing a triadic alignment model that conceptualises law, ethics, and social justice as distinct normative spheres whose congruence is contingent on institutional design, deliberative practices, and critical legal consciousness. The study employs a qualitative, theoretical-synthetic methodology, drawing on normative jurisprudence, socio-legal theory, and comparative case illustrations from climate litigation, digital constitutionalism, corporate accountability, and migration governance. The analysis reveals four key dynamics: (1) historical interdependence and fragmentation between the spheres; (2) structural mechanisms that produce alignment, including democratic deliberation, judicial interpretation, and ethical legal professional identity; (3) disruptive forces—technological velocity, climate crisis, inequality, and populist instrumentalisation—that fracture alignment; and (4) emergent realignments through transnational justice movements, digital rights frameworks, and restorative justice practices. The article contributes a novel analytical framework that specifies the conditions under which law, ethics, and social justice are aligned or in tension, and offers practical guidance for institutional design and legal reform in pluralistic, rapidly changing societies.Unduhan
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